An Adults Tale

Steven had always felt that the best thing about internet dating was the lack of competition based on physical appearance. He really wanted to get to know a woman on the inside first, to establish whether or not they had a lot of things in common, and none of those things were relative to how stunning she might be on the outside.

He had started internet dating when his relationship with Samantha had disintegrated. He had loved her with all of his heart. She was adorable, witty, intelligent... all of the things he truly appreciated in a relationship partner. Unfortunately, she was not faithful. That had been the deal breaker. Samantha had cheated on him multiple times and, ironically, some of those times had been with men that she met through internet dating. Steven had forgiven her first few indiscretions. He had rationalized them as Samantha needing attention because he had been so busy with some projects at work that he hadn't had a lot of time to spend with her. He felt bad and told her that he would learn how to curb his tendency to be a workaholic and would make himself more present in her life. Sam had seemed happy with that and had promised that she would not make the same mistakes again. She told Steven she loved him and that was what mattered the most. Unfortunately, her fidelity was short-lived and she was soon having an affair with a man at her job. Steven couldn't take it any more and the relationship ended.

After their break-up, Steven found himself haunting internet dating sites looking for Sam. He had an insatiable need to prove to himself that she had a problem and that she was cruising those sites looking for men to use and toss aside. Steven was hell-bent on making himself feel better by finding more and more about Sam that he could criticize. Then, in the midst of his anger, something odd happened. He actually met someone interesting and intriguing through internet dating.

Steven had received a "ping" from a woman named Darlene on one of the first sites where he had created a quick profile. He was going to ignore it but then, he looked through her interests and saw that they loved so many of the same activities. She was even interested in playing backgammon - something Steven hadn't been able to do in so long because most people found it boring. So, he decided to answer her message.

After a few weeks of corresponding back and forth, Steven had to admit to himself that he was smitten. Smitten with a woman whose face he'd never seen, whose voice he'd not yet heard. That, in and of itself, had convinced him that internet dating was not the horrible place that Samantha had projected to him. It was actually a world filled with possibility.